6 Days in Maui! We had never been to Hawaii so when the proverbial light bulb finally went off, we decided it was high time that we check out the 50th state of the US. Usually, our holiday destinations involve a fair bit of adrenaline (rock climbing, mountaineering, ski adventures, etc.), so going to Hawaii for vacation was definitely hard for us to justify to ourselves. I mean, isn’t Hawaii the place our parents want to go to chill at the beach? Turns out, we were oh so wrong. Well not entirely. It’s still the vacay location of choice for many American families, but Hawaii has so much more to offer for thrill seekers! For our 6-day trip, we settled on Maui as our first island to explore! Here’s what our itinerary looked like: Day 1: Arrive, settle, snorkel, snuggle As soon as we landed in Maui, we made our way to the Whole Foods that was near the airport to stock up on breakfast and lunch items for the week. We booked an apartment so that we had the flexibility to make our own breakfast and lunches without having to drop $100s for every meal. Yup – Maui is expensive. Pro tip – local fruit from Maui is amazing. We stocked up on local mangos and it was the best decision. SO YUM. We then checked into our apartment at the Royal Mauian and quickly went snorkeling to get comfortable with our fins and breathing under water. We had a dive trip pre-booked for the next day at 6 am. The snorkeling right outside our apartment was fantastic with several turtles hanging out near the rocks. I am glad we did this, because it took me a few minutes to get comfortable with the whole breathing from the mouth thing. With snorkeling done, we were free to explore the town a bit. We showered and head out to the local cool spot called “The Bermuda Triangle”. We started off with a dinner at Paia Fish Market (at this to your list – we went back here!) followed by walking around the area getting familiar. At this point, we had been awake for 15+ hours and with an early am wake up, it was time to hit the hay. Day 2: Dive! Thank the heavens for time change – Maui is 3 hours behind San Francisco. So, waking up at 5 am was a piece of cake. We had some breakfast and packed up to go for our first dive! I was a bit nervous since the last time I had dove was over 12 months back. Anyway, I took a deep breath and got ready for our dive in Molokini Crater! We chose to use Pro Diver as our dive guide and it turned out to be a great decision. They were one of the only dive companies that offered “back wall of Molokini” as a dive location. Our first dive was the inside of the Molokini crater, which was incredible. Even though, the conditions were a bit choppy, the visibility was stunning. Our boat captain then dropped us towards the outer edge of the Molokini crater and we caught a current that shot us to the back wall of the crater. This was the most stunning part as we came face to face with three reef sharks. The sharks were totally chill and hung out with us for several minutes, after which we started the ascend to the surface where the boat picked us up. More on our Molokini dive in a separate post. After the dive, we head back to our rental to get showered up and untangle the megaknot my hair had turned into. Keep in mind, the dive started at 6 am so we were done and back at our place by 10 am bright and early and had the whole day ahead of us. We had lunch at our place and after a bit of relaxing, decided to drive down to the Big Beach in Makena. This was clearly the local’s hangout spot as there were tons of families and friends hanging out at the beach and getting in their surf. The water was on the rough side but we absolutely loved swimming in it. We grabbed coconuts on the way to the beach, which turned out to be a great decision after the dive in the early morning. The path to big beach winds through Wailea, the mega resort area and this has a fancy mall as well. If this is something you’re into, it could be a cool stop along the way. After this, we went out to dinner and drinks at Three’s Bar and Grill. The food was delicious, and the service was on point. We had a great time and retired in bed early with a glass of wine and sound of the ocean to lull us to sleep. Sharks in Molokini! Day 3: Road to Hana We had heard on multiple threads that the Road to Hana is a must. Even Justin was keen to check it out and we both thought that it was a must do with our convertible. So, we were on our way to the Hana around 9 am, which we realized was already too late. From Kihei, we had a 20 min drive to Paia and that’s where the road to Hana starts. The views in Paia were spectacular and we quickly made a mental note to stay in Paia area the next time we visited the island. From Paia, the road is pretty straightforward. You will know by the hundreds of other cars on the route as well. While the sights were spectacular, we did not enjoy this road to Hana. It was overcrowded and people were stopping at the smallest sight of a waterfall. Several cars were blocking the road and the experience wasn’t entirely worth it. And as a result, we decided not to stop along the road until we go to the Honokalani Beach (Black sand beach). When we arrived at beach, it was still relatively deserted. We quickly found a parking spot and walked down to the beach. There were bathrooms at this park so that was a welcome relief. We made our way to the Honokalani Beach and this was stunning! We swam in the waters and Justin tried some bouldering on the nearby rocks. The swell was strong almost the entire time in Maui so I stayed closer to the beach, but I thoroughly enjoyed swimming in the black sands beach. As we were leaving, the beach got super busy and full of people. Glad we left when we did. We had lunch just into the town of Hana at a food truck stop where there were 5 food trucks to choose from. This was delicious! (and one of the few food options before turning around). At this point, we had to decide whether to return on the road we came down or continue down around the park. Reluctantly, but excitedly, we continued on the road. And this was the best decision we made. Right after the black beach, the crowds die down and the there are fewer people on the road. Our first stop on this section was the boulder beach (I have no idea what its called and can’t seem to find it online. It was the first stop right on the side of the highway after passing the town of Hana!). We were the only ones here when we arrived, and it was incredibly romantic. Only one other couple stopped on the way. Following this, we made a stop at Wailua Falls and swimming hole. This was awesome! Hardly 10-15 people on the trails and only 2 people in the water when we arrived. We swam and enjoyed the force of the waterfall. One of the best swimming hole stops ever. Our next stop was the Haleakala National Park. We stopped to hike to the seven sacred pools where the water flows through seven levels before finally entering the sea. This was a spectacular sight! The views were breathtaking but the sounds of the sea crashing into the rocks was even more incredible. We loved every second of it. While the roads are sketchy coming into the national park, they are absolutely stunning once you’re in it. For us, the best part of Road to Hana, started after Hana. Everyone has their own experience, but this was our favorite. After the drive, we had dinner at Paia at Café Des Amis. This was one of the best places we ate in Maui. Paia is definitely a local’s town and the vibe at this restaurant was testament to it. After a sumptuous meal, we drove home and hit the hay. Note 1: Car rental insurance does NOT cover the section after Hana. We did it anyway and drove very carefully. Please consider this before driving. Note 2: There is little to no food between Paia and Hana. Pack snacks and fuel your car! Beautiful Wailua Falls Day 4: Surf + Fancy Dinner! By Day 4, we were really settling into the Hawaii time zone. We woke up lazily and after breakfast, decided it was time to pop our surfing cherry on this trip. We made our way down to Kalama State Park beach and rented long boards at Maui Wave Riders shop. This was easy because the shop was literally across the street from the beach. We paddled out to the break – it was a very mellow break and stayed and surfed for 2-3 hours. Every wave was wonderful, and we absolutely loved every second of it. I caught a few waves and so did Justin. It was a great way to spend the morning. We then lazed and relaxed back at our apartment before getting dressed and heading to Hotel Wailea for a fancy dinner. This was our only fancy dinner and we loved it! The food was delicious, and the service was extraordinary! Highly recommend this :) Day 5: Relax This ended up being one of our more memorable days in Maui. We spent the day eating breakfast, swimming multiple times in the waters outside our apartment, snorkeling to see the turtles and just overall relaxing and enjoying the beautiful views surround Kihei area. For dinner, we went to Café O’Lei. This was one of the best meals we had in Maui and was literally across the street from our apartment. I indulged in some Lychee martinis and the bar tender read my mind and made me a second one as soon as I finished the first one Day 6: Dive in Lahaina! By Day 6, it was time for our two dives in Lahaina. As most dives, this dive started reallllyyy early and we had to drive all the way to Lahaina from Kihei. This drive was beautiful at 6 in the morning as we saw the sunrise light up the sea and the coastline. We arrived in Lahaina within ~40 mins and had no traffic along the way. However, as soon as we arrived in Lahaina, things started going downhill. The weather was iffy with a storm coming in a couple days. And our dive guide – Lahaina Divers was totally not what we expected. We realized that they are a highly commercial diving outfitter with close to 40 people waiting to get on a dive boat with them that day. At our arrival, we were all ushered into a room to sign waivers and then fitted into diving gear. From here, we got on a massive dive boat with 4 dive masters. Each dive master had a group of 9. The entire experience was insanely commercial and frustrating to both me and Justin. Our dive site was in Lanai, a 45 min boat ride from Lahaina. We saw a pod of dolphins along the way that swam with the boat for a while! Once we arrived at the dive site in Lanai, we realized right away that the water was extremely choppy. We still decided to go ahead with our dive location of choice: Lanai Cathedrals. The dive itself turned out to be a total nightmare for us. The water was extremely wavy and cold with low visibility and the divers in our group seemed quite inexperienced. One of the guys in our group couldn’t maintain his buoyancy at all and kept kick a bunch of reefs, which drove me crazy. Lanai cathedrals are absolutely beautiful, and I’d love to dive there again – albiet with a different dive outfitter (and in perhaps different conditions). Our second dive – Grand Canyon, was also incredible. There were tons of archways and caves that you could swim through. However, due to the waves and bad visibility, this was actually quite challenging. I still enjoyed it but was constantly thinking of when it was going to end. Following 10 people through these caves and arches didn’t make it fun either. Once the dive ended, we loaded back on the boat and headed back to Lahaina. Justin and I grabbed some ice cream floats and realized instantly that Lahaina was NOT the place for us. It was way too touristy. We promptly got in the car and decided to drive out of town to find a place that had ramen. A quick google search showed that a restaurant called “Star Noodle” was situated in Lahaina hills. We decided to check it out and were kind of surprised to see that it’s in a warehouse style district. After we arrived, we realized that this restaurant has been ranked as the top 5 places in Maui to eat! And we were not disappointed. The ramen was incredible, and the cocktails were to die for! We arrived at just the right time and found out that this place had a massive line after we got in and got seated. If you want to eat at the Star, make a reservation! For dinner, we went back to Paia fish market in Kihei because Justin loved it. I believe I got veggie tacos (they don’t have a huge veggie selection). And we went home to bed to recover before returning home the next day! Diving in Lahaina. The visibility was quite poor and the current was pretty strong. But these archways were amazing! Day 7: Return to SF Returning to SF was bitter sweet. But we were ready to get back home to our pups and our life in SF. Its been real Maui! We'll return for more adventures in the future!
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Jackson Hole is a community of hyper active people and a common hobby is to "skin"-up (go up on skis) the local mountain: Snow King. Some people even choose to do it before starting work or during their lunch break! We decided to join in the fun during our last trip back to JH. Since we arrived in Jackson after the ski season had ended we knew that none of the lifts would be operational. So we had to have a self powered mission up the King! We actually wanted to ski Jackson Hole Resort as well, but they don't allow access once the mountain has closed for the winter :( Anyway, we are so glad we got to cross this item off our bucket list...albeit slower than everyone else on the mountain haha! Skinning the King, its pretty self explanatory. We parked in the parking lot in the front, grabbed our backcountry skis, the dog and head for the base of the mountain. Once we strapped on our skis, there was only one way to go - UP! We quickly learned that our dog had a rocket strapped to her butt and she shot up that mountain. In fact, she went so fast that we couldn't find her for a good 30 minutes! The path to the top of the King goes straight up the ski run in the beginnging. This is very steep and especially steep for two people coming from California! Once we got to the half way point of the ski run, there is an uphill route that snakes off to the hiker's right. This uphill route has a much more mangeable pitch and leads you to the top of the mountain. It took us about 45 mins to get to the top. From here, we switched into downhill mode, and skied straight back to the car! It was an exhilirating ride down! We learned that our dog LOVES going uphill but HATES going down the hill. So poor Justin was stuck carrying snow on the decent. It was unbelievably cute! We loved skinning the king so much, that we decided to do it again a day later. This time, the dog did much better and we were better acclimitized to the hike. Highly recommend this spring time JH adventure with the rest of the town. So glad to have it off our bucket list! Here's the recommended gear list:
For our honeymoon, we decided to go explore the world renowned Japow (Japan Powder) and there’s nowhere better to start than Niseko! Niseko is located in the Hokkaido island of Japan, a short 1.5 hour flight from Tokyo. From San Francisco, we took a direct flight to Tokyo Haneda airport and had a short layover with a comfortable connection to Sapporo airport. From Sapporo, we drove 3 hours to Niseko to our accommodation and spent four days exploring Niseko, eating more edamame and drinking more sake than humanly possible and skiing bottomless powder EVERY SINGLE DAY. Here’s our day by day breakdown: Day 1 Arrive in Sapporo and drive to Niseko: Most intelligent people who show up in Niseko book a shuttle bus to their hotel. However, because we booked our trip only one month before our travel date, we got a lodge (amazing lodge... but a lodge nonetheless) and were too far from the resort to sort out shuttling around. Soooo we rented a car. This turned out to be an incredible adventure! The day we landed was a massive snow storm (this is every day in Niseko) and we had to drive on unnamed roads in puking snow in this tiny Japanese car! After 3.5 hours of treacherous driving and being sleep deprived, we finally arrived in Niseko at the Always Niseko Hotel (highly recommend). We slept very well and thoroughly enjoyed using the Japanese style toilets! PRO TIP #1 – Google Maps will take you on the backroads that are often blocked. Get a printed map of main roads before traveling to fact check google. It might be worth it to take the longer main road because the shorter back-road route will take just as long. Day 2 in Niseko: Always Niseko has an incredible breakfast included in the hotel nightly rate. We dressed up and caught the hotel shuttle to the Welcome center in Niseko Mountain. Here we bought a four day pass (rookie mistake) and spent our morning exploring the gorgeous ski resort. We skied a few runs, the conditions were snowy, windy and cold – like any good ski resort should be :). We stopped for a quick snack at the Lookout Cafe and continued skiing for the afternoon. I also discovered my favorite ski run of the Niseko trip – Miharashi. A short hike from the Gondola, the Miharashi ski run is full of powder pockets and steep but forgiving trees. One of the best runs ever. After skiing, we grabbed our stuff from Always Niseko, had some lovely lunch at The Organic Café, grabbed some ramen noodles and sake from the Seicomart grocery store and drove to our accommodation for the next 4 days – Moiwa Lodge! I will write a separate blog post about the Lodge and accommodation in Niseko, but long story short, we had a GREAT time. Our first day here, we promptly dropped our bags, unpacked and went off to our first Onsen of the trip: Niseko Grand Hotel. This Onsen was unique and one of the only co-ed Onsen (mixed bath). These are very rare in Japan so it was a great way to start our trip and get familiar with the Onsen culture together. This lovely Onsen has a great outdoor space but unfortunately isn’t very warm. We still enjoyed our time together and spend 1.5 hours here. Following the Onsen, we went back to Moiwa Lodge, heated up our ramen packets and enjoyed a lovely ramen dinner together in the Lodge cafeteria. The Lodge has a cool dive bar, where we hung out with the bartender, got some insider tips and drank amazing Japanese Whiskey (Hibiki). Day 3: Skiing Moiwa Ski Resort As it turned out, this day ended up being a massive powder day. Our Lodge, Moiwa, was across the street from the Moiwa ski resort, which is not a part of the Niseko United resorts. The snow conditions looked SO good, that we decided to ditch Niseko and ski Moiwa only. This was the BEST decision ever. The powder was deep and nearly untouched ALL day. We ended up skiing 3 feet of powder right on the main chair runs. There was plenty of steep off piste terrain that was way more rewarding that we had imagined. Hands down, one of the most memorable ski days ever. North Face operates a lovely lodge and café right at the base of the mountain: Lodge Moiwa (not to be confused with our Moiwa Lodge). We had a lovely lunch here, followed by some more skiing off piste into the afternoon. This was an INCREDIBLE day and one of the most memorable powder days I have ever had in my short skiing career. After this epic day of skiing, we went for onsent to Hotel Kanronomori. This onsen was one the best onsens in Niseko (and as we learnt later on, better than most onsens that we went to on this trip to Japan). After a good long soak, we drove into Niseko for dinner at an Okunumiyako place (Kabuki 1 - looks like they are now closed!), where you learn to make your own! This was pretty cool because I LOVE okunumiyaki but I never knew how to make it. We enjoyed this very much and then went down to the famous Bar Gyu (Fridge door bar). Also, a very cool experience and a must-do in Niseko. This was pricey, but the atmosphere and experience was worth it. Day 4: This day started a bit slow because I had a phone interview. By the time I got done, it was 12 and we decided to drive to Niseko downtown and try some Indian food for lunch at a place called Bombay Sizzlers. The food was some of the best Indian I have ever had. We really enjoyed the tastes and the presentation. Following this, we drove down to the resort and decided to ski for the afternoon. Here, we learnt of the 5 hour lift pass, which was $25 less than the daily pass!! Aaagh I wish we knew of this earlier. Most days, we didn’t ski more than 5 hours and this would have been way more affordable. We took the gondola to the top of Miharashi and lapped that a couple times. The conditions were AH-MAZING. We also skied some groomers and the crowds had thinned so it was pretty great going at high speeds :). We continued this for about 3ish hours, traversed way to the skiers right and called it a day. It was an incredible fun day of skiing a good combination of off piste and on piste skiing. We changed our gear and went back to Bar Gyu for another round of cocktails – YUM! We actually waited for 5-10 mins because we got there before the bar even opened. After this, we went back to try out a new onsen, much closer to the Moiwa Lodge. It was not that great but we enjoyed it nonetheless. We then went to an AWESOME sushi place for dinner and liked it so much that we booked it for a second night. It was called Kobito Japanese Restaurant. They have ton of vegetarian options and I absolutely loved everything I ate. Naturally, there was a lot of sake and edamame to go around. Day 5:
Our last day in Niseko was very bitter sweet. We had had such a great that I could have spent another 4-5 days here easily. We decided to start our afternoon at Hanazono ski resort lapping the gondola. It was extremely windy and cold at the top of the mountain and the summit chair was closed. There were some good pow “off piste” runs in the resort but after three laps, it got skied out. We packed up and drove down to Niseko to run a few more laps. On my last day here, I wanted to experience the popular “Magic Forest” section of the Niseko resort. Its off piste and steep. Unfortunately the snow conditions weren’t awesome but we still got some good turns in. Due to its popularity, it was skied out and not soft snow. Skiing is always a combination of varying conditions on the mountain. Some good, some not so good. We skied to the bottom of the resort and lapped the gondola and Miharashi a couple more time. To end our trip, we went back to the absolutely wonderful Hotel Kanronomori onsen the last night in Niseko. Followed by delicious food at _ again. It was an incredible day and an unforgettable time in Niseko. Our last morning, we packed up and drove to the airport to fly back to Haneda and catch a Shinkansen to Nozawaonsen! Read about this at my next post :) A rock climbing trip in Yosemite has been looong overdue for us. Ever since we started rock climbing, we have heard of the famous Yosemite granite, the tall towers and stunning multi pitch routes and views for miles! We haven’t had the chance to make it a reality till I came across Sierra Mountain Guides website. To be honest, the idea of climbing in Yosemite was both exciting and intimidating. With a guide, I figured it would be an excellent chance to experience a harder climb and not worry about trad leading. One of the trips offered by Sierra Mountain Guides was the 3rd pillar of Mt Dana, a daunting 800+ feet climb between 5.8-5.10c. It was also a unique climb in the sense that you first travel to the top of the route, stash you gear and then hike to the bottom to climb up. Mt Dana technically falls outside Yosemite but very close to the Eastern entrance. To be honest, we thoroughly enjoyed the Tuolumne meadows area and were glad to skip the touristy valley floor. We decided to secure our guide for a private climb. It was only $30 more per person and well worth the exclusive experience. SMG sent us a detailed list of gear that we mostly had. Our guide was super prepared and brought extras with him in case we needed anything. We met at the Mobil gas station in Lee Vining at 5 AM and proceeded to the start of the hike. The hike takes about 2-3 hours to the top of the Mt Dana plateau. Along the way, we hiked along a beautiful creek and arrived to stunning meadows near the plateau top. Once at the top of the Dana Plateau, proceed to the very cliff edge of the plateau overlooking Lee Vining and Mono Lake. The views are breathtaking from here and tons of pic opportunities. We stashed our day packs here and proceeded to the start of the hike down to the base of the 3rd pillar. The path down is unmarked and quite challenging so use extra extra caution. I slipped once and hurt my right hand (not too badly). In any case. Safety should always be a priority. There are several cairns along the way to signal the route down to the base as the trail isn't marked. I strongly recommend that you stop various times on the down hike to assess your location and the next few steps down the path. The path continues to veer right to the base of the arete and finally to the base of the 3rd pillar. Here, you proceed to the base of the climb to get ready to start heading up! Once at the base, gear up to start leading your first of many cracks up the first pitch. Starts with an obvious beautiful flake with a fist size crack ~15 feet. The pitch is a perfect 5.9 with the crux at the very beginning. Once you're past the crack, you have an easy 5.6-5.7 section to the base of the second pitch. The second pitch is a great combination of hand crack, finger crack and off width climbing in one route. Its got some fun off width moves towards the top, almost near the next belay station where you can find decent holds in the off width AND use the face of the off width section. From here, we relaxed quickly and got going on the next pitch of the route. Both the belay stations after the first and the second pitch have ledges - so take the time of kick off those shoes and rest your feet. On the 3rd pitch, we decided to do the 10c variation. I am SO glad we did this because this was my favorite section on the climb. It started off with a thin crack that becomes even thinner as the crack goes up. There are some crimps to hold/ put feet on to keep moving. After the thin section, there are some fun bouldering type moves that get you to the next belay section. We decided to skip the belay and proceed up just below the flake. This was good because we got to conserve our energy for the last, hardest section of the climb. So here, we did two pitches in one. The last pitch is absolutely frigging gnarly but one of the most rewarding climbs. This section, a solid 5.9, is considered to be one of the best 5.9s in the world. I tend to agree with this since the moves were hard but SUPER fun. Frankly I felt it was hard because we had spent the entire first half of the day climbing and were pretty tired by the time we got to this. Still, we tried our best to enjoy every move. Most of the climb was sustained with the crux right through the flake. There is a small foot hold below the flake and really thin cracks through it, so its certainly a mental game. I didn't lead the routes so I can't comment on the gear needed here. However, this is the section you want to keep your smallest nuts for (haha!!). I was flagging hard at the end of this route but we managed to top out and enjoy the feeling of submitting one of our longest multi-pitch climbs. This was a fantastic experience! Special thanks to Sierra Mountain Guide Michael O'Conner for leading us through this route and being the best guide we could have asked for. On the hike down, we were back to high energy and enjoyed the stunning meadows. The craziest part though, we came face to face with a big brown bear!! So, please take your bear spray on this hike! The bear took off as soon as it saw us, but it wasn't more than 20 feet away. What an incredible experience this was. I highly recommend this hike to any and all keen on trying out Yosemite style crack climbing on 800 feet of granite. I also highly recommend Sierra mountain guides as an excellent (and very reasonable) guiding company for this mission. Climb on! Hiking Mt. Shasta is never a bad idea. It’s one of the easier 14’er in the lower 48 and technically someone could do it 24 hours. I have chosen to make this an overnight trip and camp at Helen Lake at ~10k feet on both occasions, which breaks up the hike and gives you a chance to appreciate the beauty around the Mt. Shasta Wilderness area. This was my second time up the mountain and we managed to summit on both occasions. The days were long and grueling, but not impossible. My first hike up Mt. Shasta was in May 2011, which is a way better time to ski down the mountain. This time, we went up on July 1stweekend, which was a horrible time to ski down. I learned about Sun Cups and how they aren’t exactly skiable haha! We hiked the avalanche gulch route, which starts at the Mt. Shasta parking lot at the Bunny Flat Trailhead. This route is ~5.5 miles one way. Be prepared to travel with cash as you will need it for the wilderness permit and summit passes (around $40). Pro Tip – take a photo of the permit and summit passes in case you misplace them (which I always do). Ran into the ranger and talked to him for ages and he was perfectly happy with the phone pictures rather than actual passes. The route first goes through gorgeous meadows and has a very gentle incline till you arrive at Horse Camp (1.75 miles from the trailhead). This is the last place for fresh water. After this, you have to melt snow on the mountain. After Horse Camp, the trail gets much more treacherous and steeper with several switchbacks. In early season, you can bypass this entire section and go up the snow fields. Once this snow melts, you have to trek the established route. Another reason to hike this mountain in the snowier conditions (latest June). After several switch backs and some snow fields, we finally got to Helen Lake around 5 PM. Thankfully there was plenty of sunlight to set up camp, cook a meal and tuck in for the night. We were surprised by hold cold it still was at 10,000+ feet. Even though temepratures were north of 80+ on the trailhead. Pro Tip: Take a shovel to shvel out a spot for your tent. Also make a wind barrier using the snow and the rocks to keep your tent from blowing through the night. Next morning, we woke up around 4 am. Had a quick snack, got packed and headed to the summit. The conditions were gorgeous. Almost no wind and great visibility. We decided to ditch our skis about 400 feet north of Helen Lake and continue up with much lighter packs. The hike itself was tiring, but the views around Mt. Shasta were worth it. We maintained a good strong pace without much stopping. The red banks (~13,000 feet) are more technical than the rest of the hike. They require steep hiking with an ice axe through a chimney. After you’re through with this, you head to aptly named Misery Hill (~13,800 feet). I recall being really challenged at Misery Hill in the past, but we cruised right through it. There are a couple spots to swap crampons on the windblown section in the summer, so that always takes a bit of time at altitude. Finally, we got to the plateau and the rocky summit section that takes you to the top. This was a bit tricky (again, easier in the early summer time) and we made it to the summit! The views were stunning and again the weather was awesome. After summiting, we walked back down to Misery Hill and glissaded all the way down to our skis. The little snow we skiid was awful and even though I am an experienced skier, I fell on my face a couple times. Ya… not fun. But an adventure nonetheless! We packed our gear and head back towards the car with the skis loaded on our packs. The way down was wayyyy harder than the way up with skis banging up against our backs. We still had a total blast – it was a gorgeous day to summit with minimal wind and sunny skies. Almost too sunny to be honest. The hike down through the slushy snow cups was a bit treacherous, but classic type 2 fun. We ended up dropping our skis on the approach from Helen Lake to the summit because the snow didn’t look very skiable. The skis were insanely heavy and both Justin and I were worried it would prevent our summit chances. It ended up being a good decision because the snow cups were all the way to the top of the mountain and snow wasn’t awesome. We ended up glissading most of the way down – this was so much fun!!! Once we got back to our skis, we decided to ski down to the campsite and quickly realized we won’t be doing much more skiing that day. The snow conditions were really bad. The route is straightforward with plenty of markers, the hike itself is hard but not impossible. Overall - great California adventure with stunning views and lifelong memories! Here’s the breakdown of the route:
Hope you guys have a blast up Shasta! You haven’t really skied in the wild west until you have skied in steep chutes of Jackson Hole! That is, of course, after you get through the parking line, ~1 hour long lift line to get on your first run! Jokes aside, Jackson is truly the mecca for advanced skiing and it continues to be unparalleled. The terrain varies from steep groomed “double blues” (yes they are really just black runs everywhere else in the world), some kick ass chutes and wide beautiful bowls. Jackson is the boyfriend you always wanted to have: exciting, challenging and sexy.
Anyway, if you want to have the best day in JH, I recommend these must do’s!
Ride on Cowboy! As a part of my national park road trip back in 2015, I was planning to hit all the national parks in Norther California. Unfortunately, I got sick half way through it and had to cut it short just after Yosemite National Park. Lassen Volcanic National Park (LVNP) is a less famous national park, but certainly no less beautiful than the others. What makes this national park unique is the access to volcanic mountains that are easy to get to and stunning lakes surrounding these volcanos. Additionally, the Lassen Peak marks the beginning of the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway stretching from California through Oregon and all the way to Washington. It is a gorgeous road with spellbinding views – a must do for a road tripper! By the time we could free up a weekend to make the 4 hour drive from the Bay Area to the LVNP, we had entered into October. The weather was cooler and the leaves had changed color. On arrival at the park, we realized that most campgrounds were closed due to the end of the camping season. We then set up camp and decided to find dinner nearby. This was not a great idea, because the nearest town Shingletown (yes, this is actually, what it is called…) was a good 25 miles away. Once we arrived here, the only decent food we could find was pizza at a local bar. It is in places like these that you come face to face with the beauty of rural America. Someone decided to pick up our tab of drinks, because they liked us. This is far from the first time this had happened to us, and we were, as before, surprised and touched by the gesture of strangely familiar people. After dinner and drinks, we drove back to our campsite and promptly fell asleep. We woke up early, made breakfast and played with our dog around the beautiful area. We then drove to the Lassen Peak trailhead, and hiked to the summit of the mountain. This was not an easy hike, with 2000 feet of elevation gain in 2ish miles. With howling winds in the nearly freezing temps that morning, it was actually quite challenging for a shorter national park hike. After a couple water and snack breaks, we made it to the summit. The last bit of the trail involved some scrambling, but we quickly made it to the top for stunning views of the national park, the forests and Mt. Shasta in the distance. By the time we returned to the car, it was 11 AM. The sun was up, but the car hadn’t warmed up yet. Our dog was happy to see us back. After a quick clean up and watering the dog, we headed back home to the Bay Area with good memories of our journey to this uniquely beautiful national park. Here’s the downlow:
Overall, this was a great summer/ fall hike. We hope to return to this beautiful place for some ski descents in the future!
Apparently, Mt. Hood is the second most climbed mountain in the world, after Mt. Fuji in Japan. While I am not 100% sure this statistic is correct, I can tell you first hand, that this is an awesome mountain to summit. With 5000 feet of elevation gain and 7.5-mile round trip hike, it is not an easy mountain, but it is certainly a doable one. Another awesome fact about Mt. Hood is that dogs are allowed to hike, or even summit on the mountain. On this beautiful hike, we learned the hard way, that it’s absolutely important to know your dog’s limits. While we have hiked longer, higher mountains and skied on snowy terrains with our pup, we hadn’t attempted an icy mountain hike. This ended up being a bad idea because Snow ended up hurting her paws only ~500 feet short of the summit. Before embarking on our journey, we called a few ranger stations and Timberline Mountain Guides to assess the weather and mountain conditions. Based on their recommendations, we settled on the South Side, Hogsback approach that finished with Old Chute near the summit. Here is a link to the route: http://www.summitpost.org/south-side-old-chute-variation/265416 The night before our hike, we parked the car at the Timberline Mountain Lodge (A must see! Its an incredible hotel) and slept in the car for a few hours. We made sure that all of our gear was completely ready to go, so we didn’t have to do any busy work in the morning. Before the hike, we even made sure that the crampons were adjusted to the shoe size and could be easily clipped on in the morning. At 1:30 AM, we woke up and had a banana and a granola bar. We then put on our gear quickly and were on the trail at 2 AM. Rookie mistake, we didn’t diligently memorize the path of the hike and assumed that there would be clear markers for how to get at least half way through. We were SO wrong. Initially, we stayed way right and came face to face with a few crevasses. This scared me, since were didn’t have any crevasse gear. I decided that it was way safer to just hike next to the ski resort on Mt. Hood, which rests in the center of the South Face. After traversing right, we noticed a lot of people were hiking in the ski area boundary, which was groomed. This would have been much easier, but didn’t know if this was the correct approach to mountaineering haha… Anyway, we stayed outside the ski boundary and kept hauling ass. We also made really good time, and got to around 10K feet by 6 AM. The sunrise was spectacular and the views of the Cascadian Volcanos and glistening snow was incredible to say the least. We kept moving forward, feeling very strong. My recent hiking and running was coming in handy as the altitude seemed to be making little different to my pace. At about 10,500 feet, we started noticing that Snow (our dog) was sitting down at every chance she got. With the steepness increasing, she was working really hard to stay on the snow, that hadn’t yet softened from the direct sunlight. When I looked carefully at the hiking path, I started seeing red in Snow’s paw prints and my heart skipped a beat. This didn’t look good. We were near Bergschrund and didn’t want to leave her there until the summit nor did we want to push her to go any further. We had to make a choice and turn around to descend the mountain. It was a total bummer to miss out on the summit after feeling great and being fully prepared. In the future, I think we will board our dear dog. Here’s the gearlist for Mt. Hood (appropriate for a late season clear weather hike):
Hope you choose to hike this beautiful mountain and have better luck than we did!
The Bay Area doesn't really have "mountains", however, our hills are not for the faint of heart! Mission Peak is one such ginormous hill, and to get to the top, you have to be ready to ascend nearly > 2100 feet in under 3 miles. This altitude gain per mile is sure to give you the chills in the rockies. But since the summit of mission peak is only 2516 feet in elevation, its far more doable than any similar hike in the rockies or sierras. Another huge awesome fact about Mission Peak Regional Preserve is that its dog friendly! So bring your stronger 4 legged friends for this great adventure. We went chose this hike on a warm June day, well into the afternoon. The temperatures were sort of on their way down and the afternoon fog was lifting, making the visibility pretty good. We also took our dog, although its important to know your dog’s limits before taking them on the mountain. Snow hikes and runs with us quite often, so we knew she would be fine. But we took strong measures to make sure we rest often and give the dog plenty of water to keep her from getting too tired or dehydrated. Even then, she was exhausted after we got down from the hike. The hike starts with a nice even trail for the first ~2.5 miles and then becomes quite steep towards the stop. It is during this section that shoes with traction are a huge help. I have several friends who have slipped and fell during this part of the hike. Here’s what I recommend you bring for the hike:
We went later in the afternoon, so we had no problem finding a place to park. I have heard that earlier in the day, the parking lots are all full and people are scrambling to find a parking spot on the street. If you choose to go later in the afternoon, be mindful of the weather. I have attempted to hike this several times, but was stopped by the wind and the clouds. Mission Peak is at an elevation of 2500 feet, sitting much higher than the sea level bay area. So this creates its specific weather conditions. Overall, this was an excellent hike. I will repeat it a few times while training for imminent races as it gives your legs a great warm up for climbs and gets your heart stronger to handle elevation changes. And the best part? The views! You can see all around the bay area region from Marin to the Peninsula and through Walnut Creek to Castro Valley! Pretty neat! Here are some pics from our hike! Gorgeous view of the bay from the top of the Mission Peak
If it was possible to “one up” San Francisco’s big city proximity to Nature, Portland is hands down the city to do so. While it is still growing to be a big city, its natural playgrounds are plenty and super accessible. On a fine summer afternoon in Portland, I decided to venture out with the pup to Pittock Mansion. More fun than driving to the top was of course hiking to the top!
We parked the car at the Macleay Park, and got ready to hike. The lower Macleay trail is gentle and winds through Oregon urban forests to the Wildwood trail. The Wildwood trail is much steeper than the Macleay trail, but extremely pretty. The shades of green on this urban hike were stunning and as soon as we set foot on it, we could hear all kinds of birds and animal sounds. That was probably my favorite part. Here is a link from Alltrails.com to access the trail: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/oregon/lower-macleay-park-to-pittock-mansion I walked around the Pittock Mansion area with the pup. I was not sure if dogs were allowed in the mansion, so we walked around the outside of the mansion. The views of Portland and the Columbia River Gorge are stunning. On a clear day, you can apparently see Mt. Rainer, Mt Adams, Mt Hood and Mt. Jefferson! Side note, Oregon is VERY cool. The full hike was around 5 miles, including walking around Pittock mansion. Here is what I recommend you carry:
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MahimaNuclear Engineer, Product and Strategy expert, Vegetarian, Adventurer. Categories
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